Wir sind bettler. Hoc est verum.

What if you gained the whole world and lost your soul? Would it be worth it? Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.” Is this you? Do you desire a good name (good reputation) over riches? Are you willing to sacrifice a little of your name to “make it”? What is your buy out?

I was reading an Article on Perez Hilton in Entertainment Magazine. Sorry I do not have it in front of me so I will not “Quote” from it. While reading it a couple things came to mind. First it seems no one really likes Perez Hilton, yet he doesn’t seem to care. He said something about not caring if people liked him, only if people went to his blog. Then the article said he took home $70K something a week or month (I forget) from just advertising on his blog. I guess to Mr. Hilton $70k a month is better than a good name.

Of course not everyone is going to like us no matter how hard we try, but does that mean we shouldn’t care? How important is a good name to you? What is your buy-out number? Would you do something that gave you a bad reputation for $100,000 a month? What about $100,000 a week, or day for the rest of your life? Is money more important to you than a good reputation? Would you rather be rich, or honest? Would you rather be fair, or driving a $1,000,000 car?

Of course one can be rich, and have a good name, that is not the issue I am bringing up, what I am asking is if you had to choose between being rich or having a good name (and being poor presumably), what would you choose? Do you value a good name like Proverbs does? Why or why not?

I feel sorry for Perez, for I think some day he will care more about his reputation than his wealth, and by then it will be too late.